Disclosed herein are vibratory gyroscopes comprising hollow shell resonators and methods of fabricating thereof. Specifically, a vibratory gyroscope comprises a support substrate comprising a substrate primary surface and a resonator support surface, substantially perpendicular to the substrate primary surface. The gyroscope also comprises a hollow shell resonator comprising a resonator inner surface and a resonator outer surface such that the resonator inner surface defines a recessed region with a recessed region opening facing the substrate primary surface. At least one of the inner or outer resonator surfaces is attached to the resonator support surface of the support substrate adjacent to the inner edge surface of the resonator. The inner edge surface can be formed by a hollow stem with or without opening through this surface. Furthermore, the resonator support surface can be a continuous cylindrical surface or a segmented surface.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A vibratory gyroscope comprising: a support substrate comprising a substrate primary surface and a resonator support surface; and a hollow shell resonator comprising a resonator inner surface, a resonator outer surface, an inner edge surface, and an outer edge surface, wherein: the outer edge surface extends between the resonator inner surface and the resonator outer surface, having an annulus shape, and facing the substrate primary surface, the inner edge surface is surrounded by the resonator inner surface, positioned closer to a primary axis of the vibratory gyroscope than the outer edge surface, and facing the substrate primary surface, the resonator inner surface defines a recessed region having a recessed region opening extending between the outer edge surface and the inner edge surface, having an annulus shape, and facing the substrate primary surface, the recess region surrounds a stem of the hollow shell resonator, the stem terminates at the inner edge surface and has an inner diameter defined by the resonator outer surface such that the inner diameter of the stem gradually increases away from the inner edge surface, and at least one of the resonator inner surface and the resonator outer surface is attached to the resonator support surface of the support substrate adjacent to the inner edge surface.
2. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the inner edge surface is attached to the support substrate.
3. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 2, wherein the inner edge surface is entirely attached to the support substrate.
4. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 2, wherein the inner edge surface is only partially attached to the support substrate such that a portion of the inner edge surface is exposed.
5. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 2, wherein only the resonator inner surface, but not the resonator outer surface, is attached to the resonator support surface.
6. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 2, wherein only the resonator outer surface, but not the resonator inner surface, is attached to the resonator support surface.
7. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 6, wherein the resonator support surface is formed by a portion of an inner support protrusion protruding into the stem and attached to the resonator outer surface.
8. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 2, wherein at least one of the resonator inner surface and the resonator outer surface is attached to the resonator support surface of the support substrate adjacent to the inner edge surface using a support interface component.
9. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 2, wherein at both the resonator inner surface and the resonator outer surface are attached to the resonator support surface of the support substrate adjacent to the inner edge surface using a support interface component.
10. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 1, wherein: at least one of the resonator inner surface and the resonator outer surface is attached to the resonator support surface of the support substrate adjacent to the inner edge surface using a support interface component, and the inner edge surface is separated from the substrate primary surface by an inner edge gap, which is substantially unfilled by the support interface component.
11. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 10, wherein both the resonator inner surface and the resonator outer surface are attached to the resonator support surface.
12. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 11, wherein: the resonator support surface is formed by a portion of an inner support protrusion and a portion of an outer support protrusion, the inner support protrusion extends into the stem and is attached to the resonator outer surface adjacent to the inner edge surface, and the outer support protrusion surrounds the stem, extending into the recessed region, and is attached to the resonator inner surface adjacent to the inner edge surface.
13. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 10, wherein only the resonator inner surface, but not the resonator outer surface, is attached to the resonator support surface.
14. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 10, wherein only the resonator outer surface, but not the resonator inner surface, is attached to the resonator support surface.
15. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 14, wherein the resonator support surface is formed by a portion of an inner support protrusion protruding into the stem and attached to the resonator outer surface.
16. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the resonator support surface is continuous, forming a cylindrical surface symmetrical about the primary axis.
17. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the resonator support surface is segmented and formed by a plurality of segments distributed about the primary axis.
18. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the recessed region of the hollow shell resonator has a half-toroidal shape.
19. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of primary surface electrodes, wherein: the plurality of primary surface electrodes is positioned on and substantially parallel to the substrate primary surface, aligned and offset relative to the outer edge surface by a primary surface electrode gap, and the plurality of primary surface electrodes is uniformly distributed about the primary axis.
20. The vibratory gyroscope of claim 19, further comprising a plurality of side electrodes, wherein: the plurality of side electrodes extends substantially perpendicular to the substrate primary surface and is aligned and offset relative to the resonator outer surface by a side electrode gap, and the plurality of side electrodes is uniformly distributed about the primary axis.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
December 4, 2023
May 27, 2025
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.